About Maslow’s Hammer

In 1966, Abraham Maslow wrote, “I suppose it is tempting, if the only too you have is a hammer, to treat everything as if it were a nail.”Hammer.

We humans have a bias for the methods and practices we know and are comfortable with, and we are especially fond of those tools when tired and stressed.

The result?

That kid’s throwing–scold her and put her in time out.

That kid’s running,–scold him and put him in time out.

That kid’s yelling–scold him and put him in time out.

To grow professionally, caregivers need to seek out and learn to use new tools–especially when they grow frustrated with the ineffectiveness of existing tools.

To fight the bias of Maslow’s Hammer, caregivers should focus on adding useful tools to their early learning tool belts. Doing so helps you make better choices in the classroom. Someone with more tools in their belt may realize that kid 1 actually just needs a space where it’s OK to throw stuff, kid 2 needs more time outside, and kid 3 has an ear infection.

It could be argued that the job of caregivers and parents is to help kids collect as many tools as possible, so they are prepared to deal with the ups, downs, ins, and outs of life. So they don’t spend their lives trying to crack eggs with hammers.

You’ll find a Maslow’s Hammer handout here, and a Child Care Bar And Grill podcast episode about the topic here.

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1. The Psychology Of Science, 1966, Abraham Maslow